4 Silver Nemesis AU
by Iamthe13thDoctor
Summary: The Doctor, Nita and Ace visit England in 1988, where three rival factions—the Cybermen, a group of Neo-Nazis and a 17th-century time-traveller named Lady Peinforte—are attempting to gain control of a statue made of a living metal, validium, that was created by Rassilon as the ultimate defence for Gallifrey. 4th story featuring my character Nita. I do not own Doctor Who.
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter One**_

 **De Flores's villa,** **South America 22nd November 1988.**

A group of men in camouflage fatigues get out of a jeep and go to into a Spanish style villa. Inside, Nazi paraphernalia and old scrolls are scattered on a table. The Ride of the Valkyries blares out as a young man works at a computer. He completes the data input and the screen tells him - Landing Location Windsor Grid Ref 74W 32N November 23 1988. Outside on a balcony a silver haired man stands next to the record player. He picks up a modern bow to shoot a macaw in a nearby tree, then the young man comes out. 

"Herr De Flores. Herr De Flores. Wonderful news," said a man named Karl.

 **Lady Peinforte's home,** **Windsor, England 1638**.

In the grounds, a frowning woman in black velvet draws back a long bow while a man kneels at her feet. She misses the wood pigeon pecking at her lawn. 

"Very good, my lady," said Richard. 

They go inside to where an old man is working out calculations amid bubbling pots.

"How much longer?" asked Lady Peinforte.

"He cannot hear you, my lady," said Richard. "Shall I…"

"Leave him," Lady Peinforte interrupted. "There'll be time enough to punish his impertinence when he's finished."

Lady Peinforte takes an arrow from the fire irons.

"Put this with the others." Richard shrunk from her. "Are you so very feeble?" asked Lady Peinforte dirisively. "The poison cannot harm unless the arrow's tip should break the skin. Let who will steal my gold."

"And the silver arrow, my lady?" asked Richard.

"Leave that to me," Lady Peinforte replied. "You're sure the potion is well mixed?"

"On my life, ma'am. I guarantee it."

"Good. We await but the calculation. Perhaps the fee will speed matters."

Lady Peinforte takes a bag from the mantlepiece and throws it in front of her mathematician.

At De Flores's villa, De Flores enters the main room to speak to his troops, who have been given small glasses of drink. They stand to attention.

"Gentlemen. I wonder if even you can fully appreciate what this moment means. You're standing now at the turning point of history. The day of fulfillment of our mighty destiny is about to dawn. Fifty years ago, I stood at the side of the Fuehrer himself when he ordered the first giant step to greatness, just as now the moment approaches for the second and final one. It will be decisive, for this time, this time we must not fail. Gentlemen, I give you the Fourth Reich!"

"The Fourth Reich!" they all shouted.

"Herr De Flores, the aircraft is ready," said Karl.

"We leave at once," said De Flores.

As the men troop out, De Flores goes to a glass display case and removes a silver bow, then places it in a metal carrying case. 

Out in space, a meteorite containing a statue starts to heat up.

 **Lady Peinforte's home**

"My lady," said Richard, "there is but the final ingredient for the liquid wanting. For that I was thinking…"

"My lady?" interrupted the mathematician. "Lady Peinforte? I've finished."

"You have the answer?" asked Lady Peinforte.

"Yes, my lady," said the mathematician.

"Quickly, then. Tell me," said Lady Peinforte.

"The comet Nemesis will circle the heavens once every twenty five years," said the mathematician.

"Yes."

"It's trajectory, however, is decaying. This…"

"When will it land?"

"It will circle ever closer until finally it once again strikes the Earth at the point from which it originally departed, the meadow outside."

"When?"

"When. Oh, yes. Yes, of course. On the twenty third day of November in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty eight."

 **Black Jack's Mill - garden**

The Courtney Pine Jazz quartet are playing to an appreciative audience in bright sunshine, including the Doctor, Nita and Ace. Ace is wearing a short sleeved t-shirt while Nita is rugged up in a parka. 

"I could listen to them all afternoon," said Nita.

"And so we shall," said the Doctor.

Ace picks up the Daily Mirror with the headline Meteor Approaches England and reads the back page.

"Have you seen this?" asked Ace. "Charlton picked up three points."

"This is my favourite kind of jazz," said the Doctor. "Straight blowing."

The Doctor's pocket watch beeps.

"I hate people whose alarms go off during gigs," said Nita.

"What's this?" asked the Doctor, looking at his watch. "It's a reminder."

"Well, go on, then," said Ace.

"Well, obviously, at this precise moment it's a reminder to change course for another destination," said the Doctor.

He closes the ornately enamelled cover of the digital device.

"Where's that?" asked Nita.

"I've forgotten," said the Doctor. "Oh, we'll have to go back and find out."

"Oh, Professor!" complained Ace.

The Doctor and Nita walk off while Ace gets Courtney to give her an autograph.

"Excuse me, would you mind signing my tape?" asked Ace.

"Not at all," agreed Courtney.

"Thanks."

"Okay."

"Bye."

Ace joins the Doctor and Nita.

"Don't you find it embarrassing asking for autographs?" asked the Doctor.

"Not as embarrassing as forgetting what you set your alarm for," said Ace.

"Well, I probably arranged it centuries ago," said the Doctor.

Someone fires a silenced handgun at them from the hedge, but misses.

"Doctor!" shouted Nita.

"Get down!" shouted the Doctor.

They crouch, run, and hide by some trees.

"Who are they?" asked Ace.

"Couldn't see," replied the Doctor. "Quick, the Tardis."

As they run across a wooden bridge, a volley of shots sends them tumbling into the fast moving water.  
Two men with guns wearing headphones come onto the bridge to check their handiwork. Seeing no one, they smile and leave. Then the Doctor, Nita and Ace surface, drift downstream a little and climb out.

"Hope my tape's all right," said Ace.

"Welcome home," said the Doctor.

 **Lady Peinforte's home**

"I could build a flying machine," said the mathematician. "Imagine that, my lady. Human beings flying about like birds."

Lady Peinforte picks up the silver arrow. "We leave at once."

"Why, I can change the world," said the mathematician. 

**Riverside**

Ace uses a catapult to fire stones across the river.

"Ace!" called the Doctor.

"Yeah?" asked Ace.

"Duck," said the Doctor.

Ace ducks. The Doctor shooes a duck out of the Tardis and brings a new cassette player with him.

"No, duck," said the Doctor.

"Oh, great," said Ace. "Now I can play my tape."

"Afraid not," said the Doctor.

"Why not?" asked Ace. "It's my tape deck. You built it for me."

"Yes, I know I built it for you to replace the one that was destroyed by the Daleks, but…"

"So? It's my tape deck and I want to play this."

"This is more than just a tape deck. And besides, we've more to worry about than just listening to your tape."

"Yeah," said Nita. "So who were they, anyway? Who'd want to kill us?"

"I'm afraid there's an infinite number of possibilities. What concerns me more is my alarm. Got to find out what it was supposed to be."

"Can't you remember anything about it?" asked Ace.

He inputs some data into the tape deck.

"I'm afraid not. Obviously the arrangements were made in rather a hurry. They are important. I've given them a terminal rating."

"Sounds nice," said Nita.

"It means that some planet somewhere faces imminent destruction."

"Crikey," said Ace.

"Quite."

He finishes his input and a hologram of a planet appears above the tape deck.

"That looks familiar," said the Doctor. "Earth."

 **Lady Peinforte's home**

Lady Peinforte holds the silver arrow and on her wrist is a strange leather bracelet.

"Afraid?" asked Lady Peinforte.

"Yes, my lady."

"When I employed you, you lead me to believe you were a hardened criminal."

"As my lady knows, before I entered your service I was found guilty of a large number of offences."

"Then have the courage of your convictions."

She hooks her arm around Richard's, opens a flap on her bracelets and punches a button. There is a flash of blue light.

They both scream as an aurora envelopes and Lady Peinforte's home transforms into –

 **Black Jack's Mill** \- A restaurant complete with red checked tablecloths.

The customers look up, surprised as a pair of seventeenth century time travellers appear in their midst.

"Where are we, my lady?"

"Why, the very place we left, of course. My house in Windsor."

 **Riverside**

"You mean the world's going to end and you've forgotten about it?" asked Nita.

"I've been busy."

"How long have you known?" asked Ace.

"Well, in strictly linear terms, as the chronometer flies, I've known since November the twenty third, 1638."

A silver spacecraft approaches Earth.

The Tardis materialises inside a cellar filled with junk, including a tiger's head. The Doctor strokes a stuffed bear and catches his hand on its teeth.

"Hello. Ow!"

"Look at all this stuff," said Nita.

"Yes, that's exactly what we've got to do, look at all this stuff," said the Doctor. "You two take that aisle."

"What's it all for?" asked Ace.

"Presents," said the Doctor.

"Nobody gets this many presents," said Nita.

"Well, if you were a lady who travelled."

"I am," said Nita.

"Yes, you're not always invited, but you are, you get presents, and then you need somewhere to store them."

"Who does it all belong to?" asked Ace. "I mean, where are we?"

"Windsor."

"Windsor?" asked Nita. "We're in the castle?"

The Doctor holds an African mask up.

"This is new."

"I thought it'd be a lot posher than this," said Ace.

"It probably is, upstairs, but we're in the vault."

The Doctor has put on a fez.

"I'm looking for a silver bow we want to borrow."

"We can't go nicking stuff in here," said Nita.

"It's only temporary."

"It's probably treason," said Ace. "I'm too young to go to the Tower."

"Listen, girls, do I have to remind you that the safety of the world is at stake?"

"It might make a difference if you'd let me know what was going on, Professor, but I suppose there's no time," said Ace.

"Precisely."

The lights flicker.

"There's even less time than I thought," said the Doctor. "Please, let's hurry."

The Doctor puts the fez on Ace.

 **Black Jack's Mill**

"Nemesis," said Lady Peinforte. "She arrives."

 **The Doctor and the girls are in the cellar.**

The meteorite crashes to earth by a barn. The Doctor catches a gilt bust that tumbles off a pedestal.

"Was that a bomb?" asked Nita.

"No, that was the return to Earth of a comet called Nemesis that has been in orbit for exactly three hundred and fifty years."

"You're amazing, Professor, being able to tell all that just from the noise," said Ace.

"Wasn't difficult, really. It was me who launched it into space in the first place. This may qualify as the worst miscalculation since life crawled out of the seas on this sad planet."

"Nobody's perfect," said Nita. "Hey, is this the bow?"

De Flores and Karl are in a van. The bow is in the case on De Flores's lap. The van stops.

"We're almost at Windsor, Herr De Flores," said Karl. "Shall I let the men walk around a little?"

"No, Karl. We must not keep history waiting."

At Black Jack's Mill, a police car zooms past, blues and twos on.

"My lady, what carriage is that?" asked Richard.

"Hurry," said Lady Peinforte. "The rogues will have the Nemesis."

"I've not seen the like of it before," said Richard. "We must take care."

"Oh, fie!" scoffed Lady Peinforte.

Lady Peinforte smashes the glass door with a chair.

Police are standing by the burning hole in the ground as the van pulls up nearby.

"Nemesis has come to Earth on that piece of ground," said De Flores. "In the new era, all this will be a shrine."

"The men are ready in two assault groups," said Karl. "I will remain with you. We await only your order."

"Very good. Let's drive to the best hotel and refresh ourselves."

"But Herr De Flores, there are only three policemen. We can take them now."

"You young people, always in such a hurry. Well, we were the same. Now, the statue is inside the meteor, which has just travelled through space. Have you any idea how hot it will be? How can we handle it? Since the British Government is completely unaware of its power, I'm sure we can rely on the police force to guard it safely until we're ready to collect it. I have every confidence in them."

 **In the cellar…**

"The bow was in the case," said the Doctor.

Ace reads the description.

"Ah. This case contained the bow of Nemesis, property of the Crown, which disappeared mysteriously in 1788. Legend has it that unless a place is kept for the bow in the Castle, the entire silver statue will return to destroy the world."

"For once legend is absolutely correct. It has just returned."

The lights go out.

"Oh, now this," said the Doctor.

"It's just the electricity," said Nita.

The lights come on again.

"It does that sometimes, even in the 1980s," said Ace. "What I want to know is, how can a statue destroy the world?"

"I'll tell you three hundred and fifty years ago."

Ace puts the fez back by the drawing of the statue with its bow and arrow.

At Lady Peinforte's home, the Tardis materialises on the upstairs landing, blowing out the candles. The Doctor, Nita and Ace tiptoe out, then Ace sneezes.

"Shush," said the Doctor.

"Sorry, Professor."

"There might be someone at home," said the Doctor.

"Okay, Professor. So where are we now?"

"Windsor, of course. Only a few hundred yards from the Castle."

"And is it really 1638?" asked Nita.

"It certainly is. And furthermore, don't move."

"What?"

"Stay where you are."

The Doctor goes to the Mathematician, who is slumped over the table, asleep, and covers him up.

"Who does this house belong to, anyway?" asked Ace.

"A lady."

"She's got funny ideas about home furnishings," said Nita.

"Lady Peinforte's nothing if not original. I'm afraid this poor man was employed for his useful rather than his ornamental qualities. He's a scholar. He's done remarkably well. In a matter of months since I was last here, he's calculated the exact time and date when a comet called Nemesis will land on this planet. The twenty third of November…"

"1988," finished Ace.

"And Lady Peinforte's rewarded him with her usual generosity."

"So the bow belonged to her?" asked Nita.

"Hmm? Oh, no, no. Not to her. To a statue of her. She made the statue from the silver metal that fell out of the sky into that meadow out there."

He goes to the chess board.

"Hmm, this game is going rather badly."

"Professor."

"Don't worry. There's no one here now, apart from our sleeping friend. Lady Peinforte's around all right, in Windsor, but three hundred and fifty years in the future."

At the crash site, a policeman uses his radio.

"What means yon fellows?" asked Richard. "One speaks into his hand."

"He summons guards," said Lady Peinforte. "Oh, this cannot be."

"Why so upset, my lady?"

"Because, fool, they will protect the Nemesis, and we know not their strength and weapons."

"But, my lady, they know not what the comet is. Without the arrow, it is nothing. We must but watch and wait our chance to seize it."

"Thou art not in all wise so useless, Richard."

"My lady is too kind."

"We shall withdraw and conceal ourselves."

"Three one eight to base," said the policeman. "Hey look, there's someone inside."

 **At Lady Peinforte's home…**

"How can she get to 1988?" asked Nita.

"She uses the silver arrow, of course, and she had some basic rudimentary technology for time travel. A vortex manipulator, actually."

"Vortex manipulator?" asked Ace.

"Mmm, don't know how she got it."

"So it wasn't just silver, this stuff that fell from the sky?" asked Nita.

"Unfortunately, Lady Peinforte discovered it was something rather more unusual. A living metal. Validium."

"Living metal?" asked Ace.

"Yes, with just one purpose. Destruction."

"But if you launched it into space, how come it's capable of destruction?" asked Ace.

"Later, Ace."

At the crash site, the police car won't start.

"Don't bother trying again, it looks like the battery's dead," said one of the policemen.

A silver periscope pushes up through the soil.

"Hello? Hello?" called a policeman.

And more of them. They spray gas and the policemen collapse.

At Windsor Castle, a bevy of tourists are on the tour, in front of a sentry box containing a red coated soldier.

"You see here the guard," said the tour guide. "They're changed quite regularly. Of course, they're only changed in winter time. They normally stand here all the time in summer time. Now, will you follow me, please, ladies and gentlemen?"

The Tardis materialises by the curtain wall, unnoticed.

"I've been here before," said Ace.

"Deja vu?" asked the Doctor.

"No, with the school."

"Oh, very droll. I haven't been here since they were building the place. You remember the way around?"

"Not really. Windsor Castle's a big place."

"Quite right. What we need's a guide. Come on."

They join the tour.

"…Tower, and also further over there is the Mary Tudor Tower," said the guide. "Those gargoyles have been there for about five hundred years. They were built in 1509 originally, and the…"

The Doctor, Nita and Ace follow a sign saying No Admittance, Royal Apartments.

 **In the Courtyard…**

"I really don't think we should be doing this," said Nita.

"This way?" asked the Doctor. "What do you think?"

"I don't know," answered Ace. "I might be able to tell if I actually knew where we were going. We didn't actually cover the Royal residential areas on the school trip. There's someone coming."

A lady with a pack of Corgis around her ankles.

"Act as if you own the place," advised the Doctor.

"Do what?" asked Ace.

"It always works. We own the place."

"Doctor!" exclaimed Nita.

"How annoying," said the Doctor. I can't place that woman for the life of me."

"Doctor!"

Ace pulls the Doctor behind a buttress, then the woman and her dogs go back inside.

"It's all right, Ace. I know that woman from somewhere."

Ace whispers to him behind the stone.

"What! Why didn't you say something?"

"You wouldn't let me."

"She's just the woman we need. Quick, after her. Ah ha!"

They followed the Queen inside and along a landing.

"It'll be very useful to have the armed forces and the police on our side, and can you suggest a better person to ask?" 

"Come on," said Nita.

"There's no alternative."

The Doctor is about to knock on a door with a crown on it, when it is opened by a stern man with beard.

 **At the crash site…**

"I am in a nightmare, or mad," said Richard.

"This is no madness," said Lady Peinforte. "Tis England."

"But the noise, lady. The foul air."

Lady Peinforte holds out her hand for the long bow.

"Yes, my lady. What will my lady do when you possess the Nemesis?"

"Why, first have revenge on that predictable little man. He will soon arrive, Richard. Oh yes, I expect him. This time there'll be a reckoning with the nameless Doctor whose power is so secret, for I have found his secret out. In good time, I will speak it. I shall be his downfall."

 **On the landing…**

"I've got to speak to her," said the Doctor.

"Be quiet," said the security guard. "We'll have a doctor here soon."

"But I am a doctor!"

"Don't get excited. How did you get in here?"

"I could tell you, but you won't believe me."

"Try me."

"I travelled through time and space."

"Oh dear, oh dear."

"Oh yes, very well, then. Let's forget about the armed forces."

"But the Queen?" asked Nita.

"Are you a patient with him?"

"Now, you'd better listen to him, weasel features, 'cos he's the Doctor," said Ace.

"Oh, is he?"

"Listen, the fate of every living creature on this planet hangs in the balance," said the Doctor.

"I don't believe you."

The Doctor puts on a pair of round glasses.

"You will believe me. You will let us go. You will not move." To Ace and Nita: "You will move."

The security men remain still as the Doctor, Nita and Ace head for the stairs.

"How did you do that?" asked Nita.

"It's easy once you know how. You have to make a spectacle of yourself."

"Hey!" called the security guard.

"Only trouble is, it doesn't last long."

The men with the guns and the ear defenders have arrived at the crash site. One turns over a tape in his Walkman, then energy zaps their ear phones.

In a gallery, the Doctor stops in front of a painting.

"Oh look, a Van Dyck," said the Doctor.

"Not now, Doctor," said Nita.

They push through the tour group.

"Pardon me, pardon me, pardon me," said Ace.

"Excuse me," said the security guard.

The Doctor, Nita and Ace make it to the top of another staircase.

"What now?" asked Nita.

"Back to the Tardis. We're obviously not going to get any help here."

As they run down the stone staircase, Ace stops at a Gainsborough-like painting of a lady.

"Professor, that's me."

"What? Gosh, so it is. My goodness, what a good likeness."

"How come I ended up here?"

"Well, it hasn't happened yet."

"But it's two hundred years ago."

"I know. We haven't done it. That's why you don't remember it."

"It doesn't make sense."

"Well, it did to Louis Armstrong, but then he really understood time."

"There they are," said the security guard. "Come on."

At the crash site, the neo-Nazis arrive and take up positions around the Nemesis. De Flores has changed into army uniform. His men find the fallen police.

"Herr De Flores, I don't understand how the police have already been overcome," said Karl.

"That is of no importance," said De Flores. "All that matters is the Nemesis is safe."

Karl places the box on the meteorite and opens it. The bow throbs with energy, and so does the statue inside the rock.

"Your strength returns," said De Flores. "Soon you will be completely restored. But where's the arrow? The arrow, where is it?"

The Tardis materialises by the barn.

"Find it!" demanded De Flores. "Find it!"

"I only hope we're not too late," said the Doctor.

The Doctor, Nita and Ace run up behind the soldiers.

"Er, don't be afraid," said the Doctor. "We won't harm you."

"How did you get here?" asked Karl. "I searched that section, there was no one there."

"Never mind, Karl," said De Flores. "You will see many signs and wonders in the days to come. Give me the arrow of Nemesis."

"Fortunately, I haven't seen it since 1638, when it disappeared along with the good Lady Peinforte," said the Doctor.

"Rubbish," said De Flores, turning to Ace. "You. Where is the arrow?"

"I don't know anything about it."

"She really doesn't," said the Doctor. "Allow me to explain, Ace."

The Doctor turns his back on the soldiers and stands in front of Ace.

"For the validium to become active, it must have a sufficient quantity of critical mass. The statue alone is no good without the bow…"

"I have the bow," said De Flores.

"And the arrow," continued the Doctor. "Now, if someone could put the bow and arrow into the statue's hands."

"They have the power of life and death, not only over this Earth but any planet in existence," said De Flores. "You seem remarkably well-informed for someone who claims to know nothing."

"I simply notice what is obvious," said the Doctor. "You, apparently, don't."

"What do you mean?"

"You see those policemen there? They've been attacked by technology more advanced and more terrible than you could imagine."

"What technology?" asked Karl.

"And you might also have observed the electricity supply being drained over the last few days."

"Like at the Castle?" asked Nita.

"Yes."

"Tell me where the arrow is," said De Flores. "I want you to tell me where to find the arrow!"

"I'm glad to say I can't."

"Then we will shoot her." De Flores pointed to Ace.

"Doctor."

A silver spacecraft comes in to land.

"Wait," said De Flores.

"Don't move!" said the Doctor.

Figures march out of the spacecraft.

"They saved my life," said Ace.

"Don't thank them yet," said the Doctor. "We might live to regret it."

"What are they?" asked Nita.

"Cybermen."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two**_

At the crash site, the Cybermen, De Flores' men and the Doctor and the girls are facing each other.

"So, Doctor," said the Cyber Leader. "A new appearance, otherwise our anticipation of your presence has proved entirely accurate."

De Flores' men start shooting at the silver newcomers, with no effect.

"Eradicate them" commanded the Cyber Leader.

The Doctor, Nita and Ace hit the ground as the Cybermen shoot the neo-Nazis.

"Take cover!" shouted the Doctor.

The Doctor runs and dives into the crater made by the Nemesis.

"Doctor!" shouted Nita.

She and Ace follow him as the battle rages around the grounds.

"Doctor, we can't stay here," said Ace.

"We certainly can," replied the Doctor. "This exactly the same thing that happened the last time. Only then it was the Roundheads and Lady Peinforte."

Lady Peinforte fires an arrow directly into a Cyberman's chest unit whilst Richard says fervent prayers.

"A hit," said Lady Peinforte. "A very palpable hit."

The Cyberman dies. A second arrow hits the ground near where De Flores is hiding behind an old car. He examines it carefully as more of his men are slaughtered. Another Cyberman falls to Lady Peinforte's arrows.

"See how my poison is as deadly as ever, Richard," said Lady Peinforte.

"And I shall look after the sick" said Richard. "Which reminds me, I shall return to Briggs his money."

"Get up, fool," said Lady Peinforte. "I tell thee, Richard, were there men of silver like these here in our day, my life would have been quite different. Now I'll let them destroy each other, and then we'll take the Nemesis."

An explosion destroys the police car. A dead Cyberman topples into the crater.

"Where did that come from?" asked the Doctor.

"Didn't see," said Nita.

"A Cyberman killed with an arrow?" asked the Doctor. "But that's ludicrous, unless. Of course, the head's made of gold."

"That's real gold?" asked Ace.

"Yes," replied the Doctor. "The only substance to which they're vulnerable."

"Classy," remarked Nita.

Ace tries to grab the arrow but the Doctor pushes her off.

"Ah!" exclaimed the Doctor. "Gold dipped in poison. Lady Peinforte's calling card."

"I really think we should be getting out of here, Doctor," said Ace.

"I really think you're right," said the Doctor.

"My lady, who is that little man?" asked Richard.

"Oh, glorious evil. It is he!" exclaimed Lady Peinforte.

The Doctor snatches the bow from the box on top of the Nemesis and runs for the Tardis.

"No!" shouted Lady Peinforte.

She takes aim with her bow, but they get inside just in time. The Tardis dematerialises with an arrow stuck in the door.

"We must retreat," said De Flores. "It's our only chance."

"And leave the statue?" asked Karl.

"The statue alone is useless to them," De Flores replied. "The bow is ours. Get it."

Karl runs to the crater and retrieves the box under fire.

"Bring the bow at once," commanded the Cyber Leader.

"The Doctor and the females have escaped with it, Leader," replied the nearest Cyberman.

"And that one?"

It points to a Cyberman with an arrow in its chest.

"Terminated by another human female, using gold."

"This must be the Lady Peinforte."

Later, in Windsor town, Lady Peinforte and Richard walk down an alley to a main street where people are queuing at a bus stop across the way.

"My lady, there are people here," said Richard.

"Of course there are people," said Lady Peinforte. "This is Windsor. Come."

In a warehouse, the Cybermen have brought the Nemesis into a large warehouse or aircraft hangar by its crash site, and are cutting into the rock surrounding it.

"Cut the statue free and take it into the craft," commanded the Cyber Leader.

The Doctor and the girls are back at Lady Peinforte's home.

"I don't like this place," said Ace.

"We're just passing through, Ace," said the Doctor.

"What happened to the old man?" asked Nita. "He's gone."

"Yes," said the Doctor. "Someone's moved the chess pieces."

The Doctor rifles through the papers on the desk and produces a small card.

"Voila!"

"Is that what we came here for?" asked Nita.

"Our friend the mathematician was a genius, but he needed a little help to get started."

The Doctor burns the paper in the fire. Ace shivered.

"Cold?" asked the Doctor.

"I really don't like this place," replied Ace. "Can we make a move?"

"Yes," replied the Doctor.

He moves a piece on the chess board and they leave.

Meanwhile, the Cybermen carry the Nemesis, still in some rock, into their spacecraft, then take off.  
Lady Peinforte and Richard attract the attention of a pair of thugs as they walk down through Windsor.  
Meanwhile De Flores tips gold dust out of a small bag into his hand.

"What is the gold dust for, Herr De Flores?" asked Karl.

"Eventualities," replied De Flores.

At Windsor Great Park, the Tardis materialises next to an old wooden signpost.

"Validium was created as the ultimate defence for Gallifrey, back in early times."

"Created by Omega?" asked Nita.

"Yes."

He closes the door carefully, looking at the arrow. Nita is carrying the silver bow and Ace her tape deck.

"And?" prompted Ace.

"Rassilon."

"And?" asked Nita, hoping the Doctor would reveal something interesting about himself.

"And none of it should have left Gallifrey. But, as always with these things, some of it did."

He takes the bow and holds it out in front of himself at arm's length like an aerial.

"So you had to stop Lady Peinforte…" Ace began.

"Or anyone else…" the Doctor cut in.

"From ever putting the three bits together," Nita finished.

They start walking down a track with the castle in the far distance over a ridge.

"Yes, so I launched the largest piece into space."

"But you got the sums wrong," Ace guessed.

"Look. We're almost there," said the Doctor.

"I'd feel a lot safer and happier inside the Tardis," said Nita.

"Well, the Cybermen might find the Tardis. This way, our validium leads us to their validium."

"Isn't that a bit old-fashioned?" asked Ace.

"I'm an old-fashioned guy."

The Cyber-spaceship comes in to land.

At Windsor town, the two thugs confront Lady Peinforte and Richard, itching for a fight.

"You looking at me?" challenged a skinhead.

"Stand aside," Lady Peinforte commanded.

"What are you, social workers?" asked the other skinhead.

"Out of my lady's way," demanded Richard.

"We want to tell you our problems," said the first skinhead.

"Will you be turned into rats?" asked Lady Peinforte.

"We already have been," said the second skinhead.

"Poor ones," said the first skinhead. "That's our problem."

"Money!" exclaimed the second skinhead.

"Money, say you?" asked Richard.

Near a crypt, the bow is flashing and humming, and the Doctor, Nita and Ace are whistling almost in tune with it as they walk towards the Castle. The Cybermen have brought the Nemesis to a tall folly cum crypt in the ground. On the wall behind the large stone sarcophagus is the inscription Death Is But A Door. The Nemesis is starting to break out of her rock prison.

"The remaining validium approaches, Leader," said a Cyberman.

"As predicted," said the Leader. "Activate communications unit."

"But the Doctor and Peinforte are still to be destroyed," said the Cyberman.

"Our victory is inevitable," said the Leader. "The Doctor will come to us, and Peinforte is a simple savage accompanied by a terrified peasant."

In Windsor Great Park, the two thugs have been bound, gagged and are hanging by their heels from a large tree branch while their clothes burn nearby.

Elsewhere, Ace sets up the tape deck as an aerial.

"What am I supposed to be listening for?" asked Ace.

There is a loud beep, beep, and the Doctor turns it off.

"That. Cybermen communicating."

"I don't like Cybermen," said Nita.

"You should see the ones they're communicating with."

"Reinforcements?" asked Ace.

"Yes. But if we could only jam their signal. Have you got a tape?"

"Yeah," said Ace. "You mean this thing transmits?"

She puts the tape into the play deck.

"Of course it does. I built it."

At the crypt…

"Commence transmission," said the Cyber Leader.

"Leader, I must repeat the objection to the transmission of incorrect information," said the Cyberman. "Our forces do not yet hold all three units of validium."

"You are outside your function," said the Leader.

The communications globe glows.

In Windsor Great Park, the Doctor, Nita and Ace are lying on the slope listening to Courtney Pine's tape.

"Are we having fun?" asked the Doctor.

"Yeah," said Nita.

At the crypt…

"Interference, origin unknown," said the Cyberman.

"Open the monitor channel," said the Leader.

Jazz blares out.

In Windsor Great Park…

"That'll keep them busy," said Ace. "Time to go?"

"Oh, I do love a jam session," said the Doctor.

As the jazz sounds out across the galaxy, the Doctor, Nita and Ace start walking again. Eventually they come across the skinheads still hanging from the tree. The Doctor gives Ace the bow and runs over to them.

"This is ridiculous!" cried the Doctor. "Who did this to you?"

"Social workers," one of the skinheads replied.

Outside the Crypt, a strange growling yowling noise can be heard.

"My lady," said Richard.

"Of course I heard it," said Lady Peinforte. "Am I deaf?"

"It sounds like a bear, but worse," said Richard.

Lady Peinforte's silver bow glows.

"See, we're near the Nemesis," said Lady Peinforte. "Come. The bear will not pursue us. Such things happen only in the theatre."

"What creatures are these?" asked Richard.

They are llamas.

"I know not," Lady Peinforte replied.

"They will eat us," said Richard. "I beg you, my lady, return us to our own time. The England now is full of terrors."

"You're mad!" cried Lady Peinforte. "Return without the Nemesis? Never. And without my knowledge, you cannot return at all. I tell you, Richard, either you assist me to regain it or I leave thee here forever. Now, come. I think they are peaceful."

"What place, what place is this?" asked Richard.

"The piece of ground on which you stand?" asked Lady Peinforte. "Well, I will tell thee. It is thy grave, Richard."

"What?"

"I ordered you to be buried here when I planned my tomb. See, there's thy stone."

'Here Lyeth the Body of Richard Maynarde, departed this life ye 2nd November 1657 in the 51st year of his Age. He saw worlds end and begin.'

"If the dogs would not eat thee, I ordered you put out here to attend me in the next world as in this. There you see is my burial place, and aptly the silver creatures there do hold the Nemesis. We shall attack."

There is a sign near the llamas which reads – 'Stay in your car while in the safari park'.

The Doctor. Nita and Ace look round the trunk of a large tree.

"Just in time," said the Doctor.

In the crypt…

"There's nothing here, my lady.

"See the arrow? The statue's here, depend upon it."

Outside the Crypt…

"Now our plan begins to operate," said the Cyber Leader. "She will find that her crypt has weathered with age. The fact of her death will drive her insane."

Inside the crypt…

"This is your tomb?" asked Richard.

"Rather fine, is it not? But where is the statue of Nemesis?"

Outside the crypt, the Cybermen could hear Lady Peinforte panicking: "Where is it? Where?"

"Is this the human condition of madness, Leader?" asked the Cyberman.

"It is. Get them."

They could still hear Lady Peinforte shouting: "It must be here. It must be!"

Inside the crypt, Richard stands guard with his bow.

"My lady!"

"It is here! The arrow tells me. How can this be? Where? Where is it?"

Richard looses an arrow at the returning Cybermen.

Outside the crypt, a Cyberman touches the arrow with a detector.

"Gold!" cried the Cyberman.

They withdraw. Richard's second shot hits its chest unit and kills it.

In the van, De Flores consults a map.

"This was once the estate of the infamous Lady Peinforte, in the seventeenth century."

"Lady Peinforte?" asked Karl. "But Herr De Flores, we've seen a woman in seventeenth century dress today, firing arrows at us and at men of silver."

"Shut up."

Outside the spacecraft, the Doctor, Nita and Ace observe the Cyber spacecraft from underneath a hedge. It is guarded by the two headphone wearing men who knocked them into the river. Ace sneezes, so the Doctor shakes a branch and whistles like a bird. The men decide not to investigate.

"I don't suppose you've completely ignored my instructions and secretly prepared any Nitro Nine, have you?"

"What if I had?" asked Ace.

"Naturally you wouldn't do anything so insanely dangerous as to carry it around with you, would you?"

"Of course not. I'm a good girl. I do what I'm told."

"Excellent. Blow up that vehicle."

Ace grins, and picks up her rucksack.

Outside the Crypt…

"Destroy them. Destroy them!" cried the Cyber Leader.

"We cannot sustain these losses, Leader. We must withdraw."

"No. We must hold the statue and retrieve the arrow from them."

"If we are overcome, the entire strategy fails. The Cyber race will cease to exist."

"Your logic is correct. Their supply of gold is limited. Retreat."

In the Crypt…

"Of course. Help me, Richard. Tis in my tomb. Help me!" cried Lady Peinforte.

Outside the spacecraft, the Doctor emerges from the hedgerow.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor! I believe you want to kill me."

The Doctor runs and the men follow. Ace runs to the spacecraft, throws the rucksack inside then runs back to the hedgerow. KaBOOM! Karl and De Flores see the fireball and drive towards it. Ace rejoins the Doctor and Nita as the men go to the Cybermen.

Outside the Crypt…

"Betrayal!" cried the Cyber Leader. "Delete them!"

"They killed them, just cos I blew up the ship!" cried Ace, devastated.

"They were dead already," the Doctor consoled. "The Cybermen had transformed them. They were no longer human beings."

"Is that why the Cybermen saved my life, so they could do that to me too?"

"Probably. They were like people themselves before they turned themselves into Cybermen. Quite a lot of human beings are trying to follow their example."

In the Crypt, Richard has opened the top of the sarcophagus.

"My lady, where are your bones?"

"What matter?"

In Windsor Great Park…

"Are we still jamming them?" asked the Doctor.

"Tape's still running," replied Ace.

"Good. Let's see who's listening to it."

He turns up the volume.

"Ah, sweet."

Karl and De Flores meet the Cybermen in a clearing.

"We want to talk to you," said De Flores. "I don't know if you're familiar with Wagner's Ring das Nibelungen. Now we, we are the supermen, but you, you are the giants. They are wonderful creatures."

"Of course, but why should we form an alliance with you?" asked the Cyber Leader.

"We had a leader once," replied De Flores. "He predicted your coming. Now together we shall fulfil his vision and reign over this world."

"Together?" asked the Cyber Leader. "The Cyber race requires no help from humans."

"But a woman who is almost less than human now holds the statue," Karl pointed out.

"And she's armed with the most primitive toys," added De Flores.

"You insult us!" exclaimed the Cyber Leader.

"Of course not," De Flores denied. "Whatever your unfortunate vulnerability doesn't affect us. We can remove her for you."

"We accept," said the Cyber Leader. "Destroy the woman and her servant, and we will divide the planet into your slave groups and ours."

"Good," said De Flores.

"But remember, betrayal will be fatal," warned the Cyber Leader. "We are invincible to your weapons."

"Come with me," said De Flores to Karl.

De Flores and Karl leave.

"Once they have the arrow and the statue, destroy them," said the Cyber Leader.

In Windsor Great Park, the hologram above the tape deck is empty.

"Anything there?" asked the Doctor.

"Why am I doing this?" asked Ace.

"That handful back there aren't the only Cybermen in the universe. We've got to find out where the others are."

"Look, this is where the signal's being received, right?" asked Nita.

"Right."

"But according to the scanner there's nothing there," said Ace.

"Then the scanner's wrong. That lot were only the advance party. Out there somewhere's the entire Cyberforce, and they want the Nemesis more than anything else in space."

"How can you be so sure?" asked Nita.

"Because it's 1988."

"Huh. That makes sense," said Ace.

"Listen, girls. The Nemesis generates destruction. It affects everything around it. I launched it into space, but unfortunately with an orbit that brings it back to Earth every twenty five years. Take the twentieth century. It appeared in 1913."

"The eve of the First World War," said Nita.

"Twenty five years later?"

"1938," said Ace.

"Hitler annexes Austria."

"1963?" asked Nita.

"Kennedy assassinated."

"1988," said Ace.

"Check the scanner again."

Elsewhere –

"Unfortunately, Wagner must be rewritten," said De Flores. "The supermen must control the giants. Only two illiterates stand between ourselves and the Fuhrer's dream. Come."

In the Crypt, the statue is uncovered in the sarcophagus.

"How perfect you are," crooned Lady Peinforte. "Immaculate beauty carved in absolute evil."

"But your bones, my lady? They should be buried."

"What matter? They are dead, but I live, and soon I shall have the bow and my Nemesis shall be complete."

A gunshot makes Richard duck.

"We are attacked!" cried Lady Peinforte. "Quickly, arrows."

"We have but one left, my lady. I doubt that our arrows can stop these weapons anyway."

"Nonsense. Make it count. They killed the silver creatures."

More shots hit the stonework.

"See, lady, we have no chance!"

"Nonsense. No man shall take the Nemesis. Her might is mine!"

Richard fires the last poisoned arrow.

"Not for nothing did I design my own tomb. Death is but a door."

She presses a carving and a door opens in the wall.

"I always knew I'd cheat it. Here, help me with the statue."

"We can't lift it, my lady. We must fly!"

"Put up your hands," demanded Karl.

"Never!" cried Lady Peinforte.

"You want the statue, master?" asked Richard. "Here, take it. Take it."

"No!" cried Lady Peinforte.

Richard snatches the silver arrow from Lady Peinforte.

"Give her the arrow. See!" cried Richard.

Richard throws the arrow into the sarcophagus.

"Forgive me, my lady."

"Unhand me now!" cried Lady Peinforte.

Richard drags Lady Peinforte out through the new door. Karl fires and misses.

"No!" cried Lady Peinforte.

"No matter, Karl, no matter," said De Flores. "They are of no importance. We have the statue, the arrow, and the bow."

The Nemesis's hand reaches for the arrow.

"And the Cybermen?" asked Karl.

"Gold overcomes them. We have no such weakness. See how it prepares for life. Your first task must be to take control of the extraterrestrials."

The Cyber Leader enters behind them.

"Unfortunately, that will not be possible," said the Cyber Leader.

"Keep away," said De Flores. "I possess the entire statue of Nemesis. All power is mine. The life and death of everything in existence is in my hands."

"Then where is the bow?" asked the Cyber Leader.

De Flores opens the case and discovered that it is empty.

In Windsor Great Park, Ace is still staring at the scanner. The Doctor spots a lizard amongst the foliage.

"Of course," he said. "It's so simple. They're shrouded."

"You what?" asked Nita.

"Shrouded. They don't show up. But we must try and force them into revealing themselves. Treble. Bass. Please let me be right. Is anyone listening? Balance."

The scanner fills with the Cyber fleet.

"What are they?" asked Ace.

"Cyber warships. Thousands of them. They were invisible."


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter Three**_

In Windsor Great Park, the Doctor turns off the scanner.

"What can we do?" asked Nita.

"I think our best move is to go to the crypt, unarmed, with the bow," replied the Doctor.

"Professor, are you losing your marbles?" cried Ace.

The Doctor takes a handful of marbles from his pocket and pours them into Ace's hands.

"We've got to get the bow into the statue's hands in order to activate the validium," he said.

"Is this the only way?" asked Nita.

"I believe in the direct approach," replied the Doctor. "You can always go back to the Tardis."

"Are we going or what?" asked Ace.

In the Crypt, De Flores tips some gold dust into his palm then turns around to face the Cybermen.

"Surely we, er, we can negotiate this er, this misunderstanding?" he said.

"Our understanding is perfect," replied the Cyber Leader. "You thought you had all three components of the statue, and naturally wished to destroy us."

"You are completely mistaken," objected Karl.

"Silence!" commanded the Leader.

"Validium activity indicates proximity of the bow, Leader."

"Excellent. Kill them."

De Flores throws the gold dust at the Leader, but is aiming at its head, not chest unit. It staggers back briefly as De Flores and Karl walk out.

Outside the Crypt, a Cyberman follows them.

"Herr De Flores!" cried Karl.

"You fool, they're going to kill us."

"Your day is over."

"You betray me? Have I taught you nothing?"

"Everything. Which is why we now part company. I'm afraid you failed to understand history in addition to Wagner."

"I?"

"Supermen are all very well, but the giants are the master race."

The Cyber Leader comes outside.

"Here he is." Karl turned to the Cyber Leader. "Now make me one of you."

"You show potential," said the Cyber Leader. "Very well. Have them programmed at once."

Two Cybermen take Karl and De Flores back inside the tower.

"We must complete the statue immediately," said the Cyber Leader. "Locate the bow. Destroy the Doctor and his young friends."

Richard leads the Lady Peinforte up some steps from below the base of the tower.

"How is it with you, my lady?"

"I understand not."

"What's to understand?"

"Always I have treated you badly. I have done you no service, shown you no kindness, and yet you risk your life to save me. Why so?"

"Should I not?"

"I do not live in the world of what should. But you're a good man, Richard, and I am evil."

"My lady, we have no more weapons."

"No, you're wrong. I have one more yet that will not fail. My knowledge. I will have the statue of Nemesis."

In Windsor Great Park…

"Doctor."

"Ace?"

"Look, let's be honest, right? I've never really bottled out of anything before, have I, but I'm really, really scared, Doctor."

"Me too, Doctor," said Nita.

"Oh, girls. I'm sorry. Forgive me. Why don't you go back to the Tardis? You'll be safe there, whatever happens."

"No chance, Doctor," said Nita.

"No chance," echoed Ace.

In the Crypt, De Flores and Karl have been fitted with headphones.

"The Cyberfleet are still not receiving our transmission, Leader," said a Cyberman.

"Is there any pattern to the jamming signal?" asked the Leader.

The Cyberman turns on the monitor channel, and jazz is heard.

"It is meaningless," replied the Cyberman.

As the Doctor, Nita and Ace run towards the tower, the tape stops. The communications unit light comes on.

"Communication channels to the Cyberfleet are clear again, Leader."

"Excellent. Their arrival is imminent."

"You fool!" cried De Flores. "Without the bow the statue's power is nothing."

"We will shortly obtain the bow," said the Leader.

"From the Doctor?" cried De Flores. "Don't delude yourself. He is no common adversary. Do you think he'll simply walk in here and hand it over?"

"Good afternoon," said the Doctor.

"Doctor," said the Leader.

"Yes, here we are," said the Doctor. "I'm sorry we couldn't have been here earlier, but we were held up on the way. I don't believe you've met my friends Ace and Nita.

"Give me the bow," commanded the Leader.

"Cyberleader moves pawn to discover check," said the Doctor.

"Ace replies by neatly castling with the bow," said Ace.

"Give me the bow," repeated the Leader.

"Doctor en passant behind Cyberleader," said the Doctor.

"Give me the bow!"

The Doctor grabs the bow with his umbrella.

"Doctor supports combination gambit."

"Take the bow from him!" commanded the Leader.

"Middle game element with Cybermen," said the Doctor.

The Doctor pirouettes to the sarcophagus, putting his hat over a Cyberman's gun.

"Kill him!" cried the Leader.

"End game. Illegal move, but checkmate!" cried the Doctor.

The Doctor gives the bow to Nemesis to activate it, then takes it back.

"That seems to be in order," he said.

The Doctor takes back his hat.

"Run!"

Outside the Crypt…

"The Tardis," said the Doctor.

"No statue?" asked Nita.

"Now it's awake, it'll follow the bow," replied the Doctor.

The glowing silver statue stands up and there are small explosions around her. A piercing scream splits the air as fire blows out of the windows of the tower.

In Windsor Great Park, Lady Peinforte hears it.

"Fear not, Richard. It is the Nemesis come alive."

"Alive?"

"Why, yes. Which means it is complete, and now it shall be mine."

The Tardis dematerialises.

"All power, all power past, present and future, shall be mine. Why, I shall be mistress of all of that is, all that shall be, all that ever was. Yes, all! All!"

"My lady, let us find some shelter."

"How dare you! I shall lead and you follow!"

At Lady Peinforte's home, the Doctor is staring at the chess board in 1638 while Ace rolls up the mathematicians papers.

"Hey, why are we here? What's going on, Professor?"

"Unfinished business. We don't want those to fall into the wrong hands, just yet."

"How's the game going?" asked Nita.

"Black's losing."

"What happens to these calculations?" asked Ace.

"Bishop takes rook. Someone steals them."

"The same person who steals the bow?" asked Ace. "I mean, the same person who steals it in 1788?"

"How should I know, Ace? Questions, questions. Queen takes bishop."

"Who brought validium to Earth in the first place?" asked Nita.

"But pawn takes queen."

"What's really going on, Doctor?" asked Nita.

"Checkmate. Black wins. Time to go. Take those gold coins. We may need them."

On the Road, Lady Peinforte and Richard see a hitchhiker get a lift in a car.

"We needs must walk, Richard. We have no carriage."

"We can avail ourselves of one of these steeds, my lady. I see the method. Sit you here and rest awhile."

Lady Peinforte settles herself on a stone seat built into the estate wall. Richard goes to the side of the road and sticks his thumb out. A car drives straight past him, then a second. Lady Peinforte sings to herself as she waits.

In the Crypt…

"The Doctor must not lead the statue back to the rocket sleds," said the Cyber Leader. "We will stop him."

In a Warehouse, the Tardis materialises.

"Ah. Now, the statue should be here any moment now," said the Doctor. "Everything depends on my final calculations. I can't get my figures wrong this time."

"It's okay, Professor. We promise not to interrupt you."

"You are interrupting me."

"Sorry."

"There's also another slight problem," said the Doctor. "The Cybermen could be here at any moment."

"Don't worry, Doctor. We'll look after you," said Nita.

Ace takes a catapult from her belt.

"Aim at the chest panel. And I trust you remember my strict instructions never to cause any further explosions?"

"I'm a better person as a result, Doctor," replied Ace.

"Good. We're ready for anything."

Ace goes to place the Nitro Nine flask.

On the road…

"All will be mine," said Lady Peinforte.

Richard is still failing to get a lift. Lady Peinforte gets up as a stretched limousine approaches and holds up her hand.

In the limousine, there is a rich American lady in the back.

"Er, Cyril, honey, pull the automobile over. There's some people there who could use a lift."

The car stops and the window winds down.

"Where are you folks headed?"

"To Windsor, and it please you, ma'am," said Richard.

"It surely does, honey. Jump right in."

In the Crypt, Karl has disposed of his headphones and the Cybermen.

"Herr De Flores, your day is over," he said.

He takes De Flores's headphones off. De Flores laughs. "You betray me. Have I taught you nothing?"

"We completely deceived them, Herr De Flores."

"Even I thought for a moment we were finished. I am not afraid of death, only of failing in my duty."

In the warehouse, the Doctor climbs into the rocket sled with the bow. The statue arrives and floats in beside him.

"Now, ah yes, the bow. The bow. The bow is essential. You shall have the bow."

The Nemesis takes the bow.

In the limousine…

"You must be parched from standing in the sun. May I offer you a little refreshment?"

"Thank you, no, madam," said Richard.

"Oh. Are you folks students?"

"Alas, I am but a servant, and cannot read or write."

"Oh."

"My mistress is of noble birth, and has some Latin and a little Greek."

"Well, you must be on vacation at this time."

"Go you far, ma'am?" asked Richard.

"Far? Oh, I just came over from London."

"Two days ride," said Richard.

"Well, no, actually the traffic was pretty reasonable. I left about, let's see, forty minutes ago."

"Forty minutes?" asked Richard.

"Folks from the south are never in a hurry. As a matter of fact, I'm here on a visit, checking out my roots."

"Tis wise with crops this time of year, ma'am," said Richard.

"Oh."

In the warehouse, while the Doctor programmes the rocket sled, Ace and Nita walk up to look at the statue.

"I am beautiful, am I not?" said the Nemesis.

"Yes. You're very beautiful," said Nita.

"It is only my present form. I have had others which would horrify you. I shall have those again. You are surprised I speak?"

"I know you're living metal," said Ace.

"I am whatever I am made to be. This time Lady Peinforte called me Nemesis, so I am retribution."

"Catch you later," said Nita.

In the limousine…

"Well, my family came from around here. I traced them all the way back to the sixteen hundreds."

"All things will soon be mine," said Lady Peinforte.

"I guess they will, honey."

"Time past, present and future. Power invincible."

In the warehouse, Ace runs to the doorway and a Cyberman enters, firing. She runs back and up the steps to a landing outside an office, gets out her catapult and sends a gold coin straight into its chest unit. The other Cybermen enter and see the body.

"Destroy the human female. Find and destroy her!" commanded the Leader.

In the limousine…

"The secret of the heavens," said Lady Peinforte.

"Virginia is heaven, if you ask me. My family owns a little land there. They used to own a little land around here, too. The Remingtons of Remington Grange."

"I know them," said Lady Peinforte. "Thieves and swindlers all."

"You study history?" asked Ms Remington.

"Dorothea Remington did bribe away my cook."

"Oh. Now, let me see. Yes, there was a Dorothea. She died in sixteen…"

"…Twenty one. Twas a slow poison."

"This is unbelievable."

"Many found it so."

"Here I am, driving around, and I pick up someone who's researched my family tree."

"We ride to destiny."

"We surely do, honey. We surely do."

In the warehouse, Nita takes out a Cyberman on the upper floor then leads another on a chase while the Doctor continues his programming. Another meets its end on a small spiral stone staircase, but the second forces her to move up the steps, leaving the bag of coins behind.

The Nemesis lies down in the rocket sled.

"And now, we'll set the rockets for the correct projection, and then you will be on course for the Cyberfleet."

Ace makes her way along a catwalk up in the roof space. She sees the Tardis down below her, then a Cyberman pops up in front of her and holds up its hands. The Cyberleader is on the adjoining catwalk.

"Why? You're going to kill me anyway."

"We detect only one more piece of gold," said the Leader.

"Correct. So who'll be next, and who'll be lucky?"

A third Cyberman boxes her in from the rear.

"Kill her."

Ace fires her catapult at the Cyberleader on the other catwalk, then ducks to let the two Cybermen in front and behind kill each other.

The Doctor is outside the rocket sled.

"The rockets are now locked in to a destination. Now, let's see how the Cyberfleet is progressing."

He turns on the tape deck scanner.

"Right on course."

"And I'm to destroy the entire Cyberfleet?" asked the Nemesis.

"Forever."

"And then?"

"Reform."

"You might need me in the future, then?"

"I hope not."

"That is what you said before."

"Enough."

"And after this, will I have my freedom?"

"Not yet."

"When?"

"I told you when."

The Doctor takes the bow from Nemesis.

"Things are still imperfect," said the Doctor.

Two Cybermen approach the Doctor and Ace and Nita run in. They turn, guns raised.

"Stop! Harm them in the slightest, and I will destroy this bow!"

"Give us the bow, Doctor."

"No."

"We shall simply take it and kill you all."

"Ah."

"In any case, your threat was meaningless. How could you have destroyed the bow?"

"Well, actually, I would have arranged to have the bow neatly placed in front of the rocket sled. Then I would have arranged the rockets to test fire at a pre-arranged time. By the way, Ace, what is the time?"

"Well, it's almost…"

The Doctor hooks her arm with his umbrella and pulls back behind the rocket motors just before they burst into life, incinerating the Cyberman. The Doctor covers both girl's eyes. Up on the catwalk, the Cyberman removes the bent gold coin from its chest unit.

"Is that it, Doctor?" asked Nita. "Oh no, not you again."

It is De Flores and Karl.

"The bow," said De Flores.

Karl picks it up and hands it to De Flores.

"We have both succeeded in deceiving the Cybermen," said De Flores.

"They made the mistake of assuming all human beings to be weak, corruptible," said Karl. "We, however, are loyal to the death."

De Flores takes the bow to Nemesis.

"The long journey is over. You will be worshipped forever. Doesn't she speak?"

"Not to the likes of you," said the Doctor.

"She will. Well, Doctor, we must part. And thank you for removing the Cybermen. Now the Nemesis is finally mine."

The Cyberleader shoots De Flores and Karl.

"I'm sorry, Doctor," said Ace. "I thought I'd got him."

"Give me the bow, or I will kill her," said the Leader.

"All things, all power," said Lady Peinforte. "Time, space, the world."

"She is mad," said the Leader.

"Speak not of my lady so," said Richard.

"See, I am here."

"What do you want?" asked Nita.

"My Nemesis."

"You're too late," said Ace. "The Doctor's got it."

"It is incomplete until it holds the bow. That may be given over to anyone. It will now be given to me."

"No! To us!" cried the Leader.

"You are nothing. Only the Doctor matters, and he is but a pawn in the game of my making."

"Listen, you old bag!" cried Nita.

"Silence!" cried Richard.

"The Doctor's not just going to give you the bow," said Ace. "Tell her, Doctor. Tell her."

"Doctor who? Have you never wondered where he came from, who he is?" asked Lady Peinforte.

"Nobody knows who the Doctor is," said Nita.

"Except me," said Lady Peinforte.

"How?" asked Ace.

"I know him."

"All right, so what does it matter? He's a Time Lord, we know that," said Nita.

"Well, Doctor?"

"If I give you the bow…"

"Your power becomes mine, but your secrets remain your own."

"It's all over, girls. My battle, all my battles, I've lost. I can only surrender."

"Yes."

"But not to you. The Cybermen will have the Nemesis."

The Doctor gives the bow to the Cyberleader.

"This is most rational, Doctor," said the Leader.

"But I know your secrets."

"Very well, tell them."

"I shall tell them of Gallifrey, tell them of the old time, the time of chaos."

"Be my guest."

"Your secrets ."

"The secrets of the Time Lords mean nothing to us," said the Leader.

"Exactly," said the Doctor. "Thank you for coming to the twentieth century and giving me assistance. Thank you for bringing the arrow. You may go now."

"What?"

"You had the right game, but the wrong pawn. Check."

"Enough, Doctor," said the Leader. "Cancel the statue's destructive capability."

The Doctor takes back the bow.

"Thank you."

And gives it back to Nemesis.

"Do you understand the Cyberleader's instructions?"

"Perfectly," said the Nemesis.

"Please don't surrender, Doctor," pleaded Nita.

"Prepare it for launching to liaise with our fleet," said the Leader. "You have the position from this device."

The Cyberleader holds up the tape.

"A new and final era begins, Doctor," said the Leader. "Imagination, thought, freedom, pleasure, all will end."

It crushes the jazz tape and throws it away.

"The Earth will be transformed into our base planet, the new Mondas. Before I kill you all, you may watch the arrival of our fleet. Launch the Nemesis."

"Let them kill me, Doctor. Don't surrender," pleaded Ace.

"Stand back," said the Doctor. "She's ready for launching."

Lady Peinforte screams, grabs the bow and throws herself on top of the Nemesis. It writhes as it absorbs her, then the rocket sled blasts out of the warehouse entrance and up into the sky. Mrs Remington watches it go.

"Nice rocket technology, Doctor," said Nita.

"We will watch its progress," said the Leader.

"Certainly."

The Doctor turns on the tape deck scanner. The Nemesis flies into the heart of the Cyberfleet, which is stationed by the moon, and detonates.

"This is impossible," said the Leader. "You gave my instructions to the statue."

"Yes, I gave your instructions to the Nemesis, and it understood them. It understood them, and disobeyed them, and destroyed the Cyberfleet."

"Then you will join them."

"It's worth it."

Richard sees his gold tipped arrow still stuck in the Tardis' door. He grabs it, runs over and thrusts it into the Cyberleader's chest. It dies with a lot of noise.

"That seems to be that," said the Doctor. "Thank you."

"It was nothing, Doctor. I wish I could have saved my lady, too, but she was one with your statue. How shall I live now, stranded, a stranger in this time?"

"I know how you feel. However…"

"He'll give you a lift," said Nita.

"Back to 1638?" asked the Doctor.

"It's possible?"

"Anything's possible," replied the Doctor, leading the way into the TARDIS.

Nita grabbed the Doctor's arm. "Can we not go yet? There's something I need to do."

The Doctor sighed. "Oh, very well, but don't take too long."

"I won't," Nita promised, running off down the street.

"Ace, keep an eye on her, will you?" the Doctor requested.

"Sure thing, Professor," Ace said, taking off after Nita.

"I'll make us a cup of tea while we're waiting," said the Doctor.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **A.N. – Ok, here is a deviation from the original story. Nita has been travelling with the Doctor for about a year, and this is the first time they have been back on Earth in her time period. She thinks it's a good idea to make contact with her family…**

Nita ran around the corner and headed towards the post office she had seen earlier. She reached into her pocket and pulled out an envelope that she always kept in there. It was a letter to her family, that she had been writing and adding to after each adventure. She read through what she had written:

"Dear Mum, Grandma and Grandad,

I don't know how long it's been since you've heard from me. I told you I was going travelling with my friends Mel and the Doctor. What I didn't tell you is that the Doctor is an alien and has a spaceship which travels in time. I know that sounds crazy and you probably don't believe me, but it's true.

I don't know when we'll be on Earth again in your time period, so I will keep a brief record of my adventures in this letter, and post it to you when I have the chance.

The first place we went was called Iceworld (no, I don't mean the ice skating rink – ha ha). Iceworld is a space-trading colony on the dark side of the planet Svartos. It was a mysterious place ruled by the callous and vindictive Kane, who bought supporters and employees and made them wear his mark iced in to their flesh. In Kane's lair was a vast cryogenic section where mercenaries and others were being frozen and stored, with their memories wiped for future unquestioning use as part of an army; including a freezer cabinet into which Kane deposited himself when he needed to cool down. There was also, most peculiarly, an aged sculptor who was carving a statue from the ice.

The TARDIS (the Doctors spaceship) materialised in a refrigeration sales section on Iceworld and the Doctor and Mel Bush and I ventured outside. We soon met up with the Doctor and Mel's roguish old acquaintance, Sabalom Glitz, who owed Kane a substantial amount of money. Glitz had come to Svartos to search for a supposed treasure guarded by a dragon. It was located in the icy caverns beyond Iceworld and by chance Glitz had a map, which he won from Kane in a gamble—in fact, Kane wanted him to have the map because he wished to use Glitz as a pawn in his own search for the treasure. Thus the map contained a tracking device in its seal. Kane in return had Glitz's ship, the _Nosferatu_ , which he ordered destroyed. Without realising he was being used, Glitz headed off on the search with the Doctor in tow—though women were not allowed on the expedition so Mel and I stayed with a young, rebellious waitress we met called Ace. It was only a matter of time before Ace behaved appallingly to customers and was fired. Mel and I were stunned to hear that Ace is a human from late twentieth century Earth who only arrived on Iceworld after a bizarre chemistry experiment caused a time-storm in her bedroom.

Kane's staff were not happy. Once they had taken his coin they were his for life – as Ace wisely realised when she rejected such an offer. Officer Belazs was not so clever, and was keen to escape Kane's service. She thus arranged for the _Nosferatu_ not to be destroyed, hoping to use the craft to escape Iceworld. When this failed she tries to persuade Officer Kracauer to help her overthrow Kane, but he was one step ahead. Their attempt to alter the temperature in his chambers and kill him failed.

In the ice caverns it took time but the Doctor and Glitz encountered the dragon, which turned out to be a biped which did not so much breathe fire as fire lasers from its eyes, but not the treasure. Mel and Ace and I ventured into the caverns too and we met our friends. The dragon took us to a room in the ice, which was some sort of control area and contained a pre-recorded hologram message. The hologram explained that Kane was one half of the Kane-Xana criminal gang from the planet Proamnon. When the security forces caught up with them Xana killed herself to avoid arrest, but Kane was captured and exiled to the cold, dark side of Svartos. It turned out that Iceworld was a huge spacecraft and the treasure was a crystal inside the dragon's head, which acted as the key that Kane needed in order to activate the ship and free himself from exile. The dragon was thus both Kane's jailer and his chance of freedom.

Kane overheard the location of the key through the bugging device on the map and sent his security forces to the ice caverns to bring him the head of the dragon, offering vast rewards for such bravery.

The Doctor meanwhile realised that Kane has been a prisoner on Svartos for millennia. He retrieved the head of the dragon that Kane's soldiers had removed and was then told by intercom that Kane had captured Ace but was willing to trade her for the "dragonfire". The Doctor, Glitz, Mel and I travelled to Kane's private chambers for the exchange. Kane rose to the Doctor's taunts but still powered up Iceworld as a spacecraft, which then detached itself from the surface of Svartos. However, when Kane tried to set course for Proamnon to exact his revenge he realised he had been a prisoner so long that the planet no longer exists, having been destroyed through its sun going supernova. In desperation, he opened a screen in the surface of his ship and let in hot light rays, which killed him.

The Doctor now lost a companion but also gained one. Glitz claimed Iceworld as his own spacecraft, renamed Nosferatu II, and Mel decided to stay with him to keep him out of trouble. The Doctor and I acquired Ace instead, promising to take her home to Perivale via the "scenic route". Ace and I have become good friends. She is the same age as me.

Another place The Doctor, Ace and I arrived in was Shoreditch (an inner city district in the historic East End of London) in 1963 and we met Professor Jensen and Sergeant Mike Smith, who were tracing "the primary source" of magnetic fluctuations outside Coal Hill School. They were summoned to "the secondary source" at Totter's Lane Junkyard, where Group Captain Gilmore and his men had been attacked by an unidentified assailant. The aggressor was a grey Dalek (an extraterrestrial race of mutants), which was promptly destroyed by the Doctor using Ace's Nitro-9 explosive.

The Doctor, troubled by the presence of the "wrong Dalek", traveled with Ace and I back to Coal Hill School, and with the permission of the Headmaster began searching the school. The Doctor revealed to Ace and I that the Daleks have followed him through time to this point hoping to secure the Hand of Omega, a device the Doctor had smuggled to Earth when he first arrived. In the basement of the school, the Doctor, Ace and I discovered a transmat device which the Doctor disabled, causing a Dalek operator to charge on us. While Ace was incapacitated by the controlled Headmaster, I escaped, and the Doctor was locked in the cellar to face a Dalek rising up the stairs, chanting his extermination. Ace overpowered the Headmaster and freed the Doctor, and they used anti-tank rockets forwarded by Group Captain Gilmore to deal with the Dalek.

Very concerned about the presence of two Dalek factions, the Doctor decided to "bury the past" and left Ace and I in the care of Smith. The Omega Device was awaiting burial in a local undertakers. The Doctor lead the floating casket to a freshly dug grave. The Doctor, Smith, Jensen, and her assistant Allison travelled to Gilmore's base, where the presence of a large Dalek mothership was detected in orbit. The mothership dispatched an Imperial Dalek assault squad to the transmat repaired by the Headmaster. The Doctor vetoed a proposal of military action, warning of massive reprisals from the Imperial Faction. He assembled a jamming device to interfere with the Dalek control systems.

A bored Ace realised that she left her stereo back at the school. We returned there to discover the school crawling with Imperial Daleks. With some assistance from a baseball bat imbued with power from the Omega Device, she proved more than a match for a surprised Dalek scout. However, during our escape, we were cornered by three Daleks. Alerted to our visit to the school, the Doctor arrived just in time to save us by using his Dalek Jammer. Deciding to buy himself more time, he then destroyed the transmat. The Daleks on the Mothership detected this and decided to wait for the Omega Device to reveal itself. Informed of the location of the buried casket and the Battle Computer's promise of great shared power, Ratcliffe and his association begin digging for the Device. The disturbed device was detected by the Imperial Daleks, and the summoned Dalek Emperor sent a shuttle to recover it from the Grey Renegade Daleks who have rejected his authority.

The Doctor sent Gilmore and his men to establish a defensive position at the school. He revealed to us that two sets of Daleks are vying for control of the Omega Device, which was used to give the Gallifreyans (Gallifrey is the Doctor's home planet) mastery of time. Ratcliffe presented the Device to the Battle Computer. They prepared to flee with the device using a time controller. Not wanting this faction to escape with the device, the Doctor disabled the controller and was chased back to the school by a squad of Daleks. The Doctor assured us that the approaching Imperial shuttle would not land at the school, as it is so far away from the Renegade base. We took cover as the shuttle landed in the playground. The Doctor noted with concern that he might have miscalculated.

The Imperial Daleks left the ship to face the Renegade faction. Using a Special Weapons Dalek for extra firepower, they advanced towards the Renegade base. Realising that Smith was Ratcliffe's agent, Gilmore detained him. The Doctor decided to use the transmat remains in the cellar as a communications link with the Mothership. Smith escaped to the Renegade base to find Ratcliffe a prisoner. The repaired time controller powered up to enable the Renegades' escape, but the base was attacked by the Imperials, who overwhelmed the few remaining opponents. The victorious Imperials returned to the shuttle with the Device. The Doctor asked Ace and I to shadow Smith.

The Doctor demanded the surrender of the Device. The Emperor was revealed to be Davros (a major enemy of the Doctor and is the creator of the Daleks), who announced his plans for his Daleks to overthrow the Time Lords (the Doctor's people). Angered by the Doctor's insults, Davros decided to unleash the device on Skaro's sun. Rather than the desired effect, the device created a supernova, obliterating the Daleks' home. The device smashed back into the Mothership just after an escape pod containing Davros dropped out of view. The Doctor announced that the device is travelling back to Gallifrey.

The Doctor sought out the Supreme Dalek. Convinced of its absolute defeat, it destroyed itself.

After that, the Doctor, Ace and I visited a human colony on the planet Terra Alpha, and were unsettled by the planet's unnaturally happy society. Cheerful music played everywhere; the planet's secret police force, the Happiness Patrol (governed by the vicious and egotistical Helen A, who was obsessed with eliminating unhappiness), roamed the streets wearing bright pink and purple uniforms, while they hunted down and arrested so-called 'Killjoys', and the TARDIS (which is normally blue) got repainted pink so as not to look depressing. While exploring the planet, the Doctor, Ace and I encountered Trevor Sigma, an official galactic census taker, who was visiting Terra Alpha to discover why so many of the population had disappeared.

The Doctor, Ace and I had a brief period of incarceration in the Waiting Zone (Terra Alpha's version of prisons), to find out more about the planet's laws against unhappiness, and met unhappy guard Susan Q, who became a firm ally, and allowed Ace and I to escape when we were taken away from the Doctor to be enrolled in the Happiness Patrol. The Doctor, meanwhile, encountered another visitor to the planet, Earl Sigma, a wandering harmonica player who stirred unrest by playing the Blues. Earl and the Doctor ventured to the Kandy Kitchen, where most of the missing population of Terra Alpha vanished to, and discovered Helen A's twisted executionist, the Kandy Man; a grotesque, sweet-based robot, created by Gilbert M, one of Helen A's senior advisers.

The Doctor managed to outwit the Kandy Man by gluing him to the floor with lemonade, and he and Earl escaped through the candy pipes below the colony, where dwelt the native inhabitants of Terra Alpha, now known as Pipe People. They wanted to help overthrow the tyranny of Helen A. The Doctor returned to the surface, and began stirring up trouble, supporting public demonstrations of unhappiness, encouraging the people to revolt, and attempting to expose Helen A's 'population control programme' to Trevor Sigma.

Ace, Susan Q and I had meanwhile all been recaptured, and had been scheduled to appear in the late show at the Forum. The Doctor and Earl rescued us all, and the five of us headed off to Helen A's palace for a final showdown, while a revolution took full effect outside the palace walls. The first to be disposed of was Helen A's pet Stigorax, Fifi, a rat-dog creature used to hunt down the Pipe People, which was crushed in the pipes below the city when Earl caused an avalanche of crystallised sugar with his harmonica. Then the Pipe People destroyed the Kandy Man in a flow of his own fondant surprise. Realising that she was beaten, Helen A attempted to escape the planet in a rocket, only to discover that the rocket had already been commandeered by Gilbert M and Joseph C, her husband. She tried to flee, but the Doctor stopped her, and tried to teach her about the true nature of happiness, which can only be understood if counterbalanced by sadness. Helen A at first sneered at the Doctor; but when she discovered the remains of her beloved pet Fifi, she collapsed in tears, and finally felt some sadness of her own. The revolution complete, the Doctor, Ace and I slipped away, leaving Earl, Susan Q and the Pipe People to rebuild the planet – but only once the TARDIS had been repainted blue!"

Nita picked up a pen and quickly scribbled off a few more lines.

"In our latest adventure, the Doctor, Ace and I visited England in 1988, where three rival factions—the Cybermen (a race of cyborgs who are among the most persistent enemies of the Doctor), a group of Neo-Nazis and a 17th-century time-traveller named Lady Peinforte—were attempting to gain control of a statue made of a living metal, validium, that was created by Rassilon (the founder of Time Lord society) as the ultimate defence for Gallifrey.

The statue has three components - a bow, an arrow and the figure itself - that must be brought together in order for it to be activated. They had been separated since 1638 when, in order to foil the first attempt by Peinforte to seize it, the Doctor launched the figure into orbit in a powered asteroid.

This asteroid had been approaching the Earth at twenty-five yearly intervals ever since, leaving a succession of disasters in its wake, and had now crash-landed near Windsor Castle.

The Doctor played the three factions off against one other and eventually appeared to concede defeat to the Cyber Leader. However, this was just part of a carefully laid trap, and the Cybermen's fleet was totally wiped out by the statue.

Now we have to take Lady Peinforte's servant back to his time so we can't visit you this time. But I promise the next time we are on Earth in your time, we will try to visit you.

I know all of this sounds crazy and you probably don't believe me, but it's the truth, and one day I will be able to prove it to you. I also know that you are very worried about me because it has been over a year since you've heard from me. But please be assured that I am well and am missing you. I hope to be able to see you soon. Please let my friends read this letter too, as I'd like them to know what I've been up to as well.

Love you

Nita"

Nita folded the letter, put it in an envelope, and wrote her family's address on the front. At that moment, Ace caught up with her.

"What are you doing?" Ace asked.

"Sending a letter to my family," Nita replied. She turned suddenly. "Umm..do you have any local currency? I only have Australian money."

Ace sighed and reached into her backpack. "Here's a pound note. It should be enough."

"Thanks!" said Nita, taking in from her. They went into the post office and Nita paid to have the letter posted. As they headed back to the TARDIS, Nita was thoughtful. They went inside and found the Doctor and Richard in conversation, sipping their tea.

"Oh, there you are," said the Doctor. "What have you been doing?"

"Posting a letter to my family," Nita replied. "Filled them in on what I've been up to since I left."

The Doctor stared at her. "Do you realise what you've done?"

"What?" asked Nita, worried.

"Now that you've sent a letter to your family, you've made your absence a fixed point," explained the Doctor. "I can't take you back to the day you left, because you've told them what you've been doing."

Nita was a bit stunned at that. Then she relaxed. "That's ok, Doctor. I had a plan B. I left notes for them and my friends, telling me where I was, in case you couldn't bring me back to that day. It's no big deal."

"All right, then," the Doctor conceded. "As long as you understand the ramifications of what you've done.

He put down his empty tea cup. "Right, let's get Richard home, shall we?" The Doctor engaged the dematerialisation sequence. "Back to 1638!"

Later, at Lady Peinforte's home, the Doctor and Nita are playing chess in the garden, with Ace watching them.

"So you sent the Nemesis off into space to draw the Cybermen so you could finish them off," said Nita.

"I suppose I did. How clever of me."

"Just like you nailed the Daleks," said Ace.

"As I said, Ace. Unfinished business."

The Doctor tipped over his king.

"There's still one question you haven't answered," said Nita, looking at Ace.

Richard and a lady lute player approached.

"We have none of this jazz whereof you speak, Doctor, but I think you will like this," said Richard.

Richard played the flute while his companion played the lute.

"Professor? Doctor? Who are you?" asked Ace.

The Doctor put his finger to his lips.


End file.
